Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, chairman of the English branch of Rothschild for 22 years, is selling his shares as part of a €446 million deal designed to simplify the shareholding structure of the group. Under the terms of the deal, Paris-Orléans, the holding company of the French Rothschilds, will own 100 per cent of Concordia, the main holding company for the whole Rothschild banking group. It will pay half cash and issue 647,000 new shares to acquire the 50 per cent of Concordia that it does not already own. The deal will create a family company owned jointly by the French and English branches. It will become the controlling shareholder of Paris-Orléans and hold 51 per cent of the voting rights. The family has agreed not to sell shares for at least 10 years, but the new structure could make it easier for an investment bank to approach Rothschild about a takeover. The new structure comes after the 2003 unification of the French and British arms of the Rothschild family. Under that re-organisation, Sir Evelyn ceded control of the London arm of the business to Baron David, his French cousin. Sir Evelyn, who will be 76 next month, will end his direct financial involvement with the Rothschild bank. "I have a very strict rule that when you step down from a job, you don't stay around and double guess the new management," he told the Financial Times. "I am the fifth generation of the Rothschild family and we have gone through two world wars, revolutions and recessions. The fact that we are still here is a huge achievement.”